COLUMBUS - During interviews last Wednesday Mike Tressel was asked if having 24 players from Ohio on the Michigan State roster was a good thing heading into the Big Ten opener for both teams.

His response:

"I think (having so many players from Ohio) will be a good thing knowing our people, knowing our kids," said Tressel. "I think that possibly in the past we had a lot of Ohio kids who thought 'maybe I wasn't quite as good as those guys that ended up going to Ohio State'. I think we have a lot of Ohio kids now that feel like they can go in there and win this ballgame. I think it will work out well because of the mentality of our Ohio kids."

Tressel's read was accurate. Michigan State started eight Ohioans in the Big Ten opener. And many of those players were among the top performers in their team's 10-7 victory.

"A lot of guys from Ohio are on our team, so it was a real big homecoming for a lot of guys," said junior defensive tackle Jerel Worthy, who was a key factor in the ability of Michigan State's defensive line to own the line of scrimmage. "Just credit the defensive staff for coming up with a great game plan. The offense did what they did, ran a lot of clock, and we just played as a team."